2011/12 A2 Music Tech

(Original post by Fingersmith)
The AS is half of the A2 mark so C at AS was at least 60% so that is at least 30% of A2. D is c. 50% so you need another 20% (40% of this year's work). Theoretically, an E this year could still get you a D overall but it's a risky strategy. The grade boundaries are adjusted after all the marks are in so the bottom grades could be higher than expected. Confused?

Ah ok, thanks!
Basically the maximum i can get this year is 80%, due to not doing the recording task. So was just wondering what the maximum grade i could get this year and overall (AS + A2) is.
Thanks

If we presume you have low Cs in everything (including the exam) and 0 for recording that comes to 218 which is a middle D. Any marks you can add to that interms of the coursework you have done, or if you ace the exam could get yoi into the C range BUT this is entirely speculative - don't sue me if it all hgoes tits up.

I have just spent a whole day in the studio, and recorded 12 tracks! Not finished yet, so will have around 14 tracks in total, with 4 percussion instruments.
It's amazing how quickly you can record a song if you are organized!

It amazes (and frustrates) me every year that some students do bugger all for the rest of the year and then do their coursework in a few weeks when I threaten to boot them off the course. It's even worse if they get away with it AS since there's no way I can get them to work in the second year.

(Original post by Fingersmith)
It amazes (and frustrates) me every year that some students do bugger all for the rest of the year and then do their coursework in a few weeks when I threaten to boot them off the course. It's even worse if they get away with it AS since there's no way I can get them to work in the second year.

I must confess to this.

Every year it's just lessons working on coursework from September - May, with exam work starting around April. We don't get set any specific deadlines for our coursework, just the May 15th deadline. I could easily have done all of my coursework by now (probably christmas even) but it's just so hard to motivate yourself to do something when the deadline is 6+ months in advance.

In educational circles it is now generally accepted as fact that boys (and let's face it, we are a large majority in Music Tech for no very good reason) simply do not recognize deadlines more than a couple of weeks away. I try to create deadlines of one sort or another every half term which sort of works in the first year but the second years all say "Nah, the real deadline's 15th May, no need to worry yet."

(Original post by Fingersmith)
In educational circles it is now generally accepted as fact that boys (and let's face it, we are a large majority in Music Tech for no very good reason) simply do not recognize deadlines more than a couple of weeks away. I try to create deadlines of one sort or another every half term which sort of works in the first year but the second years all say "Nah, the real deadline's 15th May, no need to worry yet."

Is 15th May the deadline for when the coursework needs to be sent to Edexcel?

(Original post by Moontoon)
I have just spent a whole day in the studio, and recorded 12 tracks! Not finished yet, so will have around 14 tracks in total, with 4 percussion instruments.
It's amazing how quickly you can record a song if you are organized!

Yeah I know. I spent all of yesterday's lesson time re-recording, and have managed to get:

Every year it's just lessons working on coursework from September - May, with exam work starting around April. We don't get set any specific deadlines for our coursework, just the May 15th deadline. I could easily have done all of my coursework by now (probably christmas even) but it's just so hard to motivate yourself to do something when the deadline is 6+ months in advance.

I know what you mean, however for me it's more of doing each piece until I finally feel like it is 'finished', and then it's a process over a month or so where I refine it. I did this at AS and found that walking away from the music for a while and then coming back to have a listen really helps to spot things you need to tune up a bit.

For mixing, they're looking for a clean, clear contemporary mix with the vocals right in the front, distortion kept well under control and every instrument audible but standing in it's own space.
Start with the panning - drums slightly spread across the middle, lead vocal in the middle, bass slightly to one side rhythm guitar to the other. then use the level faders to adjust the balance - keep the lead vocal at 0.0 and pull everything else down until you can hear every thing clearly. Imagine the stage and pull down the insts that are at the back.
Dynamic processing - it's on the mark scheme so you must have some. put a compressor and a gate on every track. Use presets if your software has them and then tweak a bit. Can't go into all of that here - it's much too complicated.
EQ every track - cut the bottom, boost the top a bit and then put a little boost in the middle and move it from side to side until it makes your inst sound sweet.
Reverb - not too much but more on tracks that are farther away.

(Original post by Fingersmith)
For mixing, they're looking for a clean, clear contemporary mix with the vocals right in the front, distortion kept well under control and every instrument audible but standing in it's own space.
Start with the panning - drums slightly spread across the middle, lead vocal in the middle, bass slightly to one side rhythm guitar to the other. then use the level faders to adjust the balance - keep the lead vocal at 0.0 and pull everything else down until you can hear every thing clearly. Imagine the stage and pull down the insts that are at the back.
Dynamic processing - it's on the mark scheme so you must have some. put a compressor and a gate on every track. Use presets if your software has them and then tweak a bit. Can't go into all of that here - it's much too complicated.
EQ every track - cut the bottom, boost the top a bit and then put a little boost in the middle and move it from side to side until it makes your inst sound sweet.
Reverb - not too much but more on tracks that are farther away.

Great post. Awesome stuff. What would you write on the track sheet where it says EQ? I'm slightly confused as to what they're after.

Has anyone finished their coursework?
I'm making good progress on Cars, my multitrack needs a slight bit of level tweaking (realised this once I started mastering it) and my composition just needs the vocal samples/synths shaping up.

For EQ give the Frequencies and gain of any cuts or boosts that you made - usually a bass shelf cut, a high shelf boost and maybe a mid range boost to change the tone. Put in the Q value if you have adjusted it.

A small? screen print of the EQ graph is more helpful than a list of numbers.

For FX: Type of reverb/delay and mix ratio

I've posted Word versions of the logbooks either in this thread or one of the other Music Tech threads which you might find useful

For EQ give the Frequencies and gain of any cuts or boosts that you made - usually a bass shelf cut, a high shelf boost and maybe a mid range boost to change the tone. Put in the Q value if you have adjusted it.

A small? screen print of the EQ graph is more helpful than a list of numbers.

For FX: Type of reverb/delay and mix ratio

I've posted Word versions of the logbooks either in this thread or one of the other Music Tech threads which you might find useful

Do you know how long the 2nd brief (the rainforest) composition has to last without any marks being docked? I know Brief 1 has to be 3 minutes exactly, but I've always believed the rainforest has to be somewhere between 3 and 4 minutes, is that correct?